What Will Faith Do?
Hebrews 11:1; I Samuel 17:12-51
I. Faith Will Reject Discouraging Words (v. 26-37)
A. God Sized Faith Will Overcome Negative Attitudes
1. People of faith will see past the problem (v. 26)
2. People of faith will often be misunderstood (v. 28)
3. People of faith will understand the cause of God (v. 29)
B. Negative & Discouraging Attitudes are the Enemy of Faith (v. 33)
1. They are contagious to the people (v. 11)
2. They will always cause God’s people to flee (v. 24)
• Flee from the devils “giants”
• Flee from God’s will
• Flee from God’s victory
C. Negative & Discouraging Attitudes Will Always Have a Reason (v. 33)
1. The size of the task at hand (v. 4-8)
2. The size of God’s resources – Through human eyes
3. The size of past defeats (v. 16)
II. Faith Will Recall Past Victories (v. 34-37)
A. Faith will always look at what God has done (v. 34-36)
1. How has God moved mightily in the past
• Kingdom growth
• Budget growth
• Sunday School growth
• Facility growth
• Ministry growth
2. How God has provided plans in the past
B. Faith will always look from the past to the future (v. 37)
1. To not look at the future with faith:
1. Will always cause stagnation
2. Will always limit God to your limits
3. Will ultimately lead to a decline in our potential
2. To look at the future with faith:
1. Will bring excitement to God’s people
2. Will bring us in line with God’s will – “God always pushes His people forward”
3. Will bring us to obedience (Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Paul)
III. Faith Will Recognize God’s Predetermined Victories (v. 26c, 39-47)
A. God will provide what you need to achieve His purpose (v. 39-40a)
“God will never lead you where He will not provide for you”
B. God desires people ready to step up and by faith move where God is going – “….And he drew near to the Philistine” – v. 40c
C. Faith will bring us to a point of dependence on God rather than ourselves (v. 45-47) “This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you and take your head from you….” V. 46
1. Dependence on God is the key to our future
2. Dependence on God is the key to God’s people being excited about the future (v. 52)
3. Dependence on God is the key to our salvation (v. 47)
